It only took a few reassuring words from JRP Group to set a change of direction in motion after two months of share price falls.

The annuity provider had been the worst faller on the market since the EU referendum; its share price had fallen more than 40 per cent from June 23 to when the FTSE opened yesterday. But a confident update helped to allay investors' fears.

The group said that trading to July 31 has continued in line with expectations and the business remains comfortably capitalised.

The firm said the merger of the two retirement product providers – Just Retirement and Partnership – was progressing as expected and should deliver cost savings of at least £40million in due course.

JRP Group's share price had fallen more than 40% from June 23 to when the FTSE opened yesterday. But a confident update helped to allay investors' fears

Chief executive Rodney Cook said the firm wanted to reassure the market ahead of its interim results, which will be published on September 15. The strategy worked. Shares soared 16.8 per cent, or 14.85p, to 103.1p.

It was a welcome boost for other annuity providers too. Legal & General rose 1.5 per cent, or 3.2p, to 210p while Aviva was up 2.2 per cent, or 9p, to 424.7p.

On the FTSE 100 (up 0.6 per cent, or 39.97 points, to 6,868.51) strong results from Persimmon were a welcome tonic for the rest of the housebuilders, another industry which has suffered post-referendum.

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Persimmon climbed 4.2 per cent, or 76p, to 1870p after shrugging off Brexit concerns. The builder said far from interest waning, visitor numbers to its sites were up 20 per cent on a year ago.

Pre-tax profit was £352.3million in the first six months of the year, up 29 per cent on the same period a year ago, and the number of completions rose 6 per cent with 7,238 new homes sold in that time.

The positive update moved Barratt forward 4.9 per cent, or 22.7p, to 486.2p while Taylor Wimpey gained 4 per cent, or 6.4p, to 165.1p.

STOCK WATCH - MYSQUAR

MySquar is a social media, entertainment and payments app company for internet users in Myanmar (formerly Burma).

Shares climbed after it announced its new game MyFish, which launched on August 2, has attracted more than 500,000 users in its first three weeks.

The game was generating up to £607 in revenue a day, which it estimates will rise up to £1,500 a day over the coming weeks.

MySquar's other apps include mobile payment service MyPay and social media platform MyChat. Shares were up 18.5 per cent, or 0.62p, to 4p.

Bottom of the pile for the day was Mediclinic. The international private healthcare provider stumbled as JP Morgan cut is target price for the stock. Shares slipped 1.7 per cent, or 18p, to 1068.8p.

Another sector which has been hit since the EU vote is the travel industry. Terrorism fears and the failure of online booking site LowCostHolidays have added to the woes of the troubled industry.

But Hostelworld was among the top risers yesterday on a confident half year update.

While revenue and profit were broadly flat compared to the same period last year, at £34.5million and £8.7million respectively, the group said the proportion of bookings through not-paid-for-channels has risen to 61 per cent of total reservations.

Some 45 per cent of bookings are now being made from mobile devices and holidays to Asian destinations were up 30 per cent.

The firm's margin has risen 2 percentage points to 25 per cent as it shifts its focus away from lower margin bookings, though this has caused the total number of bookings to fall by 100,000 to 3.5million in the first six months of the year.

Numis, which has a 'buy' rating on the stock, said in challenging conditions 'Hostelworld has maintained focus on what it can control: brand, technology, marketing and costs'.

The group said it is on track to meet full year expectations. Shares advanced 6.4 per cent, or 10p, to 166p.

The update helped Thomas Cook forward for the day. The tour operator's shares are down around 45 per cent year to date. Yesterday they climbed 5.3per cent, or 3.5p, to 69.75p.

While the supermarkets were reporting strong summer sales, Asda has offloaded its photo business to Photo-Me International.

Photo-Me, which operates the instant photo booths used for passport pictures, has acquired the business for an estimated £5.35million.

The supermarket's photo division includes 191 photo centres and 172 self-service kiosks within Asda stores as well as an online photo processing service. Photo-Me will also inherit the business' employees.

Asda's photo division reported sales of around £19.3million last year and made a loss of £3.4million.

It said turnover could be raised materially by having a specialist running the business. Photo-Me said the deal could dilute earnings in the UK part of the business in the current financial year.